Janet Daley was born in America where she began her political life on the Left as an undergraduate at Berkeley. She moved to Britain (and to the Right) in 1965 where she spent nearly twenty years in academic life before becoming a political commentator: all factors that inform her writing on British and American policy and politicians.

David Cameron gets the Big Society relaunch off to a strong start

At his engaging and persuasive best, David Cameron is putting his commitment to the Big Society on the line. As I write, he is dealing with questions from the assembled audience at Somerset House with the kind of frank directness that he does well.

His opening statement was lucid and not so much passionate (although he used that word) as clear and almost unanswerable in its logic. The criticism of "vagueness" was countered by saying that there was no one simple formula for reducing the power of the state and increasing that of communities and ordinary people: this was by definition a diverse and varied programme. To the accusation that this was just "a cover for cuts", he made the incontestable point that if cuts were necessary (as they would have been for any government at this point), wasn't it sensible to try to encourage community and voluntary organisations to take more responsibility for replacing what services might be reduced?

There was little that was new – at least in a philosophical sense – in his presentation but this was by far the clearest and most attractive account of Mr Cameron's Big Idea that has been presented. It made his project seem eminently sensible and morally profound at the same time. Labour will, of course, carry on with its relentless sniping and the axe-grinders in local councils and public sector unions will go on whinging, but this approach - of talking what sounds like level-headed good sense – is probably the best response.